Shutter
by TheChronicLiar
Summary: Camping with the ideal of finding new attraction ideas and nature shots for the magazine agency. Nature shots aren't the only thing Dipper finds on his camera when he gets home.
1. Chapter 1

Description: Camping with the ideal of finding new attraction ideas and nature shots for the magazine agency. Nature shots aren't the only thing Dipper finds on his camera when he gets home.

Warning: This is a dark story as it goes on. It is a horror/thriller. Violence. Stalker tendencies. Sexual actions and situations. Dubious consent. And probably a lot of others as the story goes on that I'll be sure to tag, so if you are worried about a certain thing happening, message me, but if you don't think you can handle it, avoid it.

 ** _Shutter_**

 _Part One-Pictures_

Glancing up from under the bill of his hat, Dipper could see the sun getting closer to its peak. It was nearly noon and Pacifica should be getting to the shack in about an hour. It should be enough time for Mabel to get back there to greet her. The forest was dense at the moment and the trail he had marked out earlier this week was harder to see, but it wasn't all bad. The weather was cool, with it being September still, but still warm enough that he had to roll up his dark flannel sleeves to feel comfortable.

"Dipper," Mabel whined. "Are we almost there? It's been over thirty minutes."

"Just a few more minutes," the young man in question replied, pushing up his glasses that had slid down his nose. He looked back to see Mabel's cheeks red with exertion. "You can't be tired already." He shifted his heavy hiking pack to slip under a few low hanging branches. "We haven't been out here that long."

"These bags are heavy!" she complained. Her bag was about half the size of his, filled with a small cooler, some food, and his clothes. Some odds and ends as well, but for the most part hers wasn't heavy.

"You got the lighter one!" he shot back. He was the one that will have to carry everything back by himself later.

Mabel huffed at him. "Well you're used to this, I'm not." He was. He went camping regularly every summer that he could, hiking even more than that. Though over the last several months, camping has dwindled down to nearly non-existent. They recently taken over the Mystery Shack after Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford decided to finally retire and take up sailing. Mabel and he were more than happy to take over the place, considering they have been helping run it for a few years anyways. More recently, they have help add on extensions to the building and making new attractions. Dipper was able to sell a lot of his photography at the shop, especially any that had supernaturals in the picture.

"Does this make me the alpha twin now?" he mused, laughing when Mabel pushed him playfully from behind.

"Watch it," she laughed. "I'm still the alpha." She raised her arms, flexing them at Dipper. "Look at these muscles. So powerful."

Grinning to himself, he hummed in agreement. "All right, _alpha_ ," he surrendered. "We should be there soon." This was his first weekend off for a long time. He wasn't exactly work free, but it was pretty close. All he really had to do was dig up new attraction ideas for Mabel and collect a few nature shots for his commission with the magazine company that hired him. At least Mabel had Pacifica to help her out until she has to go back to class. Pacifica was pretty good at getting people to buy merch. This weekend was sadly the closest thing they've had to a vacation since taking over. And Dipper wasn't about to waste it.

As the trees started to thin out, Dipper knew they were close. Speeding up, he jogged through the tree line and into a familiar clearing. He was happy to see it looked exactly the same as how he left it a week ago. The fire pit he made looked intact and wood he gathered was still piled neatly beside it. Even the logs he set out around the fire looked unmoved. Dropping his bag by the pit, he stretched his back, instantly feeling relaxed from just being here. Kneeling down, he started unpacking.

Eventually, Mabel came up next to him, dropping her bag and stretching. "Finally," she groaned.

Dipper rolled his eyes and pulled his tent out of his pack. "It wasn't that bad."

Ignoring her brother, Mabel roamed the campsite, eyeing the stones that circled the area with some interest. "What's this?" she asked as she leaned down to get a better look at the carved stones. There were dozens of them, small and spherical and spaced out along the edge with about a foot in between them.

"I think they are some sort of ritual stones. I'm pretty sure this is a druid's circle or something," he answered.

"Is it safe to stay in one?" Mabel looked back at him worriedly, but Dipper waved off her concerns.

"Mabel, if this place was unsafe, then we'd feel it, but it doesn't. It feels amazing here." And it really did. Dipper swore he felt energized just being within the circle, safe even.

Mabel gave a half-hearted shrug and kept roaming the campsite. It wasn't that large. It was big enough for Dipper's things and probably another tent. She walked to the other side of the site where the tree's opened up to a steep hill. From there, they had a view just over the forest. Part of the town and the two falls could be spotted without much trouble. "I can see why you had to have this campsite now," she whispered in awe. It was a great view, even better at sunset. "I wonder if I can talk Pacifica into coming out here."

"You have a better chance at growing gills," Dipper snorted, sticking the rods through the tent.

Mabel turned around with a grin. "So I have a chance then?" she snickered. She took a few of the pegs from the pile as she walked by and helped him finish pitching the tent. "You going to be okay out here?"

Dipper nodded, still unpacking his gear. "I'll be fine. I have a lot of places I want to check out while I'm here, though. It doesn't feel like three days will be enough."

"Tough shit. That's all you're getting. Pacifica's going back to campus Monday and I need you to help me out when we open back up Tuesday." They always closed on Mondays, at least. It was tradition set up by Grunkle Stan. He really hated Mondays. Dipper was starting to agree with the sentiment.

Mabel crouched next to him, poking his shoulder. "Sure you got everything?" she asked. She picked up his journal and flicked through the pages. She knew everything he packed, considering she helped him this morning.

"Yes, Mabel." If he didn't, he was pretty sure that he had everything. There's over two pages worth of stuff of anything he could think of bringing.

She tossed the journal back into his lap. "Make sure you call me if you need anything. Always have your talkie with you and when you head back Monday, call me." She reached out to snag the bag of marshmallows, but he grabbed them and tossed them into the tent before she could. "Also call me when you get back in the campsite for the night. I'll be calling you Monday morning too," she warned, looking forlornly at the marshmallows. .

Dipper groaned. There went sleeping in late. "Yes ma'am."

Standing up, she stretched again. "I'm going to go, but make sure you eat and stay warm. And I know it's hard to take a bath out here, but please try. You'll reek when we have to take Pacifica to the airport. Also, I'd like to avoid a repeat from when you were twelve. You can't get back into that habit of not bathing," she ranted, giggling when Dipper flipped her off. "Also watch out for strangers and strange creatures. Don't eat strange plants. Make sure to put on sun screen and bug spray. And always put out your fire. Smokey the Bear tells us that only we can prevent forest fires."

"Just go already," Dipper laughed, waving her off.

"If you see a bear that isn't supernatural or Smokey, just play dead."

"Mabel."

"Remember the difference between plants! Poison ivy is not your friend or toilet paper."

"Mable, go!" he laughed, throwing a roll of toilet paper at her.

Mabel smiled down at him, bending over to give him a tight hug. "Be safe," she whispered, knocking off his hat to ruffle his hair.

Knocking her hand away, Dipper smiled. "I will. Go have fun with Pacifica."

"Oh I will," Mabel purred, wiggling her eyebrows.

Dipper shivered in disgust. "Oh god…Just go already."

"His first night alone," she sniffled, showing no sign of leaving anytime soon. "My baby bro is growing up."

He was twenty-five and she was only a few minutes older than he was. "This is not my first night alone and you need to hurry up and go meet up with Pacifica. If you're late she's making you sleep on the couch again."

She perked up a bit at the name. "No she won't," she answered easily. They both knew Pacifica would. "But I'm worried. What if you need me here? You might get scared."

He raised a brow at her. "It's a good thing I don't need you," he muttered.

She clutched at her sweater, just over her heart. "You wound me!" she cried out dramatically. "Where has my cute little brother gone? Has it finally happened? Is he in his _rebellious_ stage already?" She gasped. "Is he going to start wearing leather jackets?"

"I hate you," he mumbled, standing up. He grabbed her by her shoulders and started pushing her toward the tree line, only poking her in the sides when she tried to stop him. Mabel jumped with a squeal, laughing as she ran from him.

"Okay! I'm going already!"

"Thank god." He waved her off as he watched her leave through the trees until she was completely out of sight. Turning back to the campsite, he had just a bit more to set up before he can go do what he came here for. Mabel called about half an hour later to tell him she was back at the shack, safe and sound and didn't need him coming to find her like last time he went camping. That took a couple of hours since she went the opposite direction of where she should have gone.

Eventually the food was safely hung up in a tree while a lot of his other stuff was neatly arranged around or in his tent. When he was finally satisfied with how everything was set up, he grabbed a quick lunch before taking his satchel and heading out into the woods. The bag held his journal that Grunkle Ford gave him a few years ago, batteries, extra memory cards, pens, flashlight, small first aid kit, his walkie-talkie, a water bottle, protein bars, plastic bags for samples, and a few other things. His camera was safely hanging from his neck and he was set. One last look at the site, headed west.

The first few hours was mostly uneventful. He got a few photos, mostly of trees and other plants or the forest's canopy. He wouldn't know how good they were until he got back home and checked them on the computer, but he felt that they were pretty good. The lighting was nice in this direction.

There were a few things he noticed that were strange. There weren't many creatures around the area, he was actually pretty sure there were none, but he couldn't say for sure since he wasn't paying attention until now. He expected to at least see a gnome or two. He did find a few strange plants that he bagged and marked down to show Grunkle Ford when he got back. Though they looked similar to the ones in the other journals. He was probably a mile from the campsite before he really started to see animal life. He made a mental note to see if the same thing happened when he walked back to the shack Monday. Maybe it had something to do with the stones.

He was able to get a few shots of some of a few animals, supernatural and non, that he came across before he had to start heading back to the site. His flashlight came in handy for the last bit of the trudge up to the site. The sun set quicker than he anticipated. Now he had to build a fire in the dark. Nearly burning himself, Dipper was able to light a fire and had the site lit up nicely. He was a bit disappointed that he missed the sunset, but he had all weekend to get it on camera.

After he pulled the hotdogs out of the cooler and had them on a skewer over the fire, Dipper grabbed the walkie-talkie out of his satchel and turned it on. He flipped to their shared channel and called Mabel. "Come in Alpha, Beta is in position."

It was only a few moments before Mabel's voice came through the static. _"DIPPER!"_ she screamed ecstatically.

 _"_ _You're not dead?"_ came a teasing comment from Pacifica.

 _"_ _We were worried when it got dark and you hadn't called yet. I was about to send Paci to go find you,"_ Mabel told him.

 _"_ _I wouldn't have come for you and Mabel, stop calling me that,"_ was all Pacifica got out before their line closed.

Dipper laughed and opened the line. "I lost track of time. Had to build a fire before I could call you." Click.

 _"_ _Idiot,"_ Pacifica replied. _"You need to be more careful."_

 _"_ _Why can't I call you Paci, Paci?"_ Mabel whined. Line closed with a click. She sounded drunk.

" _Paci_ , I never knew you cared," Dipper teased.

 _"_ _Shut up."_

 _"_ _Why does Dipper get to call you Paci and I can't?"_ Mabel complained over the line before it crackled off. The line stayed silent for a few minutes, long enough for Dipper to eat the hotdogs he had roasted.

 _"_ _So, nerd, having fun?"_ interrupted the silence as Pacifica came back on line.

"Tons," Dipper answered, smiling at the talkie.

 _"_ _Good, we're going to leave you to have your fun. Your sister's a bit busy, but she says she loves you and for you not to sleep the day away."_

Dipper eyed the talkie warily at Pacifica's rushed tone. "Okay? Um, do I want to know what she's doing?"

 _"_ _No you don't."_

That's all he needed to know. "All right. Goodnight," he said quickly.

 _"_ _Night dork."_

Tossing the talkie back into his bag, Dipper stretched and relaxed against the log. Tomorrow he was hoping to head for the river and get a few scenery shots. Taking out his notebook, he spent the next few hours jotting down a few notes about what he saw and ideas for attractions to bring up to Mabel. He made a special note about the oddness of the area around the druid circle, suggesting that maybe it was made to repel supernatural beings. But that didn't explain the lack of normal animals. Actually, he was pretty sure he hasn't seen any bugs, but that could be due to it almost being winter. At least it was something research later.

The fire started to die by the time Dipper was tired enough to go to sleep. Dousing the fire, he went to bed, nearly falling asleep instantly the moment his head touched the pillow. By morning, somehow he had emptied his satchel all over the floor of his tent. Groaning, he quickly cleaned up the mess and got on with his morning. He slept a lot better than he thought he would, though next time with less clothes. He felt like he was going to melt when he woke up, which was strange considering how cold it was outside that morning.

The exploring went a lot like it had yesterday. He noted that there was about a mile worth of area that lacked any animals as well. At the falls, he got a few nice photos. He would have to use the ones that had merfolk swimming for the shop, but most of them would be good enough to send to the magazine. Even met with the manitors and infinite bear for lunch before taking his time to get back to camp. He got back to the campsite with ample time to start a fire before the sun started to set.

Taking his camera, he set it on its tripod and took a few shots of the burgundy sky over the town while dinner cooked. On tonight's dinner plan it was hotdogs. Again. He had to finish them tonight since the cooler won't keep the cold much longer. Good news was that he still had his marshmallows for later. He had a few MREs for tomorrow. There were still several cases of the stuff back at the shack. They taste pretty good a least.

He kept to his routine from last night, calling up Mabel and Pacifica before writing. It was kept short. Apparently Pacifica was taking Mabel out to dinner and they were about to head out.

Dousing the fire, he went to bed, this time making sure his satchel was on the far side of the tent in the corner so he doesn't end up with everything scattered around again. He stripped down and climbed into his sleeping bag and fell asleep as quickly as he did the night before.

His sleep was mostly undisturbed. He only woke up once when he thought something was crawling across his face. By the time he woke up, it was past ten and his things were again scattered across the floor of the tent. That was the perfect start to his last day out here. Sleeping later than he wanted and having to clean up because he couldn't stop moving in his sleep. He dressed quickly and snagged something to eat before heading into the woods.

Besides lucking with the gnomes, whom stole pie from Lazy Susan again, his day went pretty much the same as yesterday. The pie was better than the roasted meat the manitors had. He wasn't sure what kind of meat it was, actually. He probably wouldn't want to know anyways. That night, Mabel called him before he had a chance to call her. She started ranting about a customer that apparently dragged Pacifica off for over an hour (Pacifica said it wasn't nearly that long). She complained about the flirting from this woman, which Pacifica agreed that there might have been a bit of that. The only thing about the incident that made Mabel happy was that she charged the lady three times what she owed and they used that money to order in pizza. Mabel also ordered him a pizza for when he got back. When they cut the call for the night, Dipper laid out next to the fire. Grabbing out his camera. He took a few shots of his campsite and the night sky before deciding to call it a night. With a quick scribbling in his journal, he packed up his things and doused the fire. Once in the tent, he set his satchel above his bedroll. He took out the talkie, setting it next to his pillow, and turned it on so Mabel will be able to give him his wakeup call. With the soft sound of the static, Dipper stripped down and crawled into his sleeping bag. Yawning, he drifted off into sleep.

Arms wrapped around Dipper from behind him, pulling him closer to a furnace like heat. Grumbling in discomfort, he tried to move away, but the arms tightened nearly painfully to keep him still.

" _Shh_ ," whispered from behind him, the person's breath tickling the back of his ear. It was almost instant when he relaxed against them. He could feel lips brushing against his shoulder, kissing the bare skin. The hold on Dipper relaxed as a hand trailed down his chest, the sharp points of their nails dragging against his skin until they graced the edge of his underwear. Fingers danced playfully across the waistband, flicking at the elastic.

Dipper stared out at the tent, dazed as he clutched his pillow tightly in his fists, waiting for those hands to do something. He was already getting hard from the anticipation of being touched. The warm mouth continued moved over his shoulder. Angling his neck more open, the person took that as a hint to take their attentions to his neck. A hot tongue trailed up from where they stopped to the juncture of his neck before biting lightly at the skin. Dipper whimpered at the sharp pricking of the teeth, only to be distracted as the hand at his underwear cup him. He bucked against the hand, moaning as they gripped him. "F-fuck," he stuttered out.

They nuzzled his throat, dragging the tip of their nose up the skin of his neck to the back of his ear, pulling his ear lobe into their mouth. They sucked gently, moving their tongue over the skin and biting down hard enough to leave an imprint. The lobe slipped out of their mouth with a pop before they dragged their tongue across the back of the shell of Dipper's ear. He shivered as they blew across the wet skin.

" _Tell me your name_ ," they rasped.

Dipper's mouth moved silently as they pumped him through his boxers. He couldn't speak with the hand on him, brushing their thumb of the tip of his penis with slow circles. He whined loudly when the hand left him and gripped his hip, holding him still against the open sleeping bag.

" _Your name_ ," they demanded.

"D-dipper," he gasped out quickly, trying shrug off the hand by wiggling his hips. He wanted that touch back on him.

" _Dipper_ ," they whispered as if it meant something. Dipper didn't think on it since their hand slipped under the band, grasping him firmly in a hot hand.

His mouth fell open as a loud moan pulled from him. "Fuck yes," he groaned, thrusting up into the fist. They let him as he kissed his neck. Their hand moving the bare minimum to get Dipper off. Dipper's breathing shuttered to a moaning gasp when the person started to move their hand with his thrust.

They chuckled, using the arm still under Dipper to pull him back, flush against them. Part of him suspected what held him, but any confusion he had was gone as he felt an erection press firmly between his cheeks. "God, yes," he grunt, grinding back against the man. He grinned at the startled gasp by his ear. He let out a laugh that quickly turned into a moan as the man rolled his hips up. The thought of being filled sent a shiver of thrill through him.

They didn't give any warning before the man started fisting him rough and quickly. Dipper's hand shot down to the man's arms, clutching tightly at his forearms. He wasn't sure if it was to stop him or to have something to steady him as he curled in on himself, teeth digging into his back. His mouth gaped open, whimpering at the pace. A string of cruses left him, his toes curling at the intensity of the hand around him. "Please," he begged, chanting even for release. The man smiled against his neck when he felt it all suddenly stop.

" _DIPPER_!"

Dipper jolted? "Wha…?"

" _Wakey wakey! Eggs and bakey_!"

Blinking awake, Dipper flinched back at the light that filled the tent and instantly felt the lack of warm arms around him. It was just a dream. That was enough to leave a sinking feeling in Dipper as he rubbed at his eyes. Looking down, he could see his dick straining against the fabric of his boxers. A wet stop staining at the tip.

" _The sun is shining and so shall you_!" his sister's voice cackled through the talkie in from of him. " _Come on lazy daisy! Face the sun!_ "

Growling, he grabbed the talkie and opened his side of the channel. "Shut up," he hissed.

" _Oh good_!" Mabel's reply was almost instant. " _You're awake! I've been trying to get ahold of you for like five minutes now_!"

Dipper just groaned back into the receiver.

" _Stop whining. You need to get up to help me take Pacifica to the airport_."

Dipper cursed everything he could think of. "Yeah, turning off the radio," he replied.

" _You better n_ -"

He clicked it off. A bit smugly. That didn't last when he moved to sit up. He gasped at the movement of his boxers rubbing against his erection. He couldn't believe the sensitivity it had at the moment. Laying back against the sleeping bag, Dipper's hand slipped under the waist band as he started thinking back on the dream. Moaning as he tried to reimagine those hands on him, he quickly finished the job.

The walk back to the shack took longer than it did to get up there, but this time around he was able to notice that there was about a mile worth of distance from the campsite that didn't have any animals. Pushing open the front door, he was instantly greeted.

"Hey Dipper!" Mabel yelled, assumingly from the kitchen.

"Welcome back, dork!" Pacifica yelled after her, probably in the kitchen with Mabel.

Dipper set his things down in the living room and walked into the kitchen where Mabel was doing dishes while Pacifica playing with her phone. "Good to see you," Dipper greeted Pacifica, messing up her hair on his way to the fridge.

Huffing, she quickly fixed her hair. "Feelings not so mutual," she retorted, giving him a heatless glare before gracing him with a small smile.

"So, when are we leaving?" he asked, taking out a pit soda from the fridge.

"Now," Mabel answered as she started drying off her hands. She gave him a wide smile and wrapped him up in a hug. "Glad you're home." Hugging her back, Dipper hummed in agreement. As she pulled back, her nose crinkled up. "You didn't bathe at all did you?" Dipper smirked.

"I thought you said not to," he said, feigning innocence. "Since it would be really hard to do that out there. Anyone could be watching. Not to mention how cold it is out there."

Mabel glared up at him. "If you think just because you smell that it will mean you're staying home, you're wrong."

Dipper slumped. He kind of hoped for that.

"I'm not staying locked up in a car for over an hour with stinkerson," Pacifica interrupted. "I'll call a cab if you even think about it."

"You're staying home and showering, mister," Mabel quickly changed her tone, poking Dipper in the chest.

Smiling, Dipper mouthed 'thanks' to Pacifica who nodded back.

After waving them off, Dipper put his pizza in the oven to warm up and took a much deserved shower.

The shower was nice.

The cold drink and hot pizza in his hands was extra nice.

And the best thing was that his photos were completely downloaded for him to be able to scroll through now.

Many of his shots were good. He'd have more than enough to send to the agency. The shack pictures he planned to sell were even better than he expected. Separating agency pictures and shack pictures, he moved through the first day of pictures. At the end of the first day's pictures, he was a bit miffed at how so many of them were blackened out, but that was what he got for taking pictures at night, he guessed. Though his camera should have been just fine adjusting.

Shrugging, he went through the next day's pictures and was promptly happy again. The pictures were even better. Especially the few he had with the merfolk. He thought the batch was completely good, except after the sunset pictures, there were a steady row of twenty or so blackened out pictures. What was he taking then? Did something hit his camera after he put it away? Eyeing the camera on his desk, he decided it would probably be a good idea to take in to get looked at.

Grumbling, he scrolled through the last of the pictures. His mood picked up when he got to the night photo graphs he took. They came out really well. Part of him hoped it was just a fluke with his camera with all the blackout pictures so he wouldn't have to waste money on getting it fixed. Once he got to the last bit, he noticed something strange with the thumbnail photos.

Double clicking on them, they enlarged. "What the hell…" he muttered. His heart thundered in his chest as he clicked through the pictures. Each were relatively the same, with the same object of focus, but all from a different angle. There were at least thirty of them and they were all of him as he slept.


	2. Chapter 2 Part One

**_Shutter_**

 _Part Two- Marked_

Dipper sat, hunched over on the corner of his bed as he watched his twin look through the photos. Her face was strangely blank except for the constant worrying of her braceless teeth on her bottom lip. When she leaned away from the screen, he couldn't breathe as he waited for her to say something. "Well?" he choked out when she remained silent.

"Okay, I'm not going to lie," Mabel started, holding up her hands as a shield. "This is kind of creepy, BUT," she stressed out when Dipper tried to speak. "But I think there might be something different than some creeper taking pictures of you."

Dipper's brows drew together as he waited for her to continue.

"Just look," she said pointing at the screen.

On shaky feet, he got up and stood behind her. Looking at the dated pictures, he didn't see anything spectacular, though he was still striving off another panic attack. Not even ten minutes ago, Mabel found him fully clothed under the cold spray of the shower. "What am I looking at?"

"Okay, the first two nights here," she said, using her finger to circle the collection of blackout photos. "They obviously had no idea what they were doing. Like, who doesn't know that you need to take the lens off a camera? Barely anyone these days. The first time they tried to take pictures, they would eventually figure out that they can't see anything when nothing shows up and then take off the lens. This person, whoever they are, don't know technology. And when they figured out how to use the camera they went crazy like a kid. They took a lot pictures, mostly of you, but a lot of the tent as well."

Mabel had a few points and her optimism was influential, to say the least, but Dipper still wasn't completely convinced. "But it doesn't add up. It has to be a person. There were no animals or supernaturals around this area."

Green eyes narrowed in thought as his sister's mind raced. "What if the reason no one is close by is because someone is living there?" she debated.

"What?" There was no way he could have missed that. He was there all weekend. He would have at least caught a glimpse or something.

"Just hear me out," she started with her hands out defensively. "What if the reason there are no creatures in the area is because there is someone living there." It wasn't that farfetched of an idea considering Dipper has seen things like this, but not with a mile radius of all creatures and not just other predators.

"Isn't that pretty much a warning to stay away?" The area didn't feel dangerous, but not everything had to feel dangerous to actually be dangerous.

"Maybe or maybe is like infinity bear and everyone is just scared of them for no reason? What if you're the first person to be near them for like forever? What if they're lonely, Dipper?" She looked sad at the very thought of someone or something being alone because of something they couldn't control.

He didn't share her feelings on the matter. Not completely. He was still wary about the whole idea. "Then why didn't they say anything?"

"Maybe they couldn't." she shrugged. "It's not like everything speaks English or something. Maybe the only way they felt they could safely communicate with you was through imitation?"

He bit at his lip in thought. "Mabel, I don't know…" She had a lot of points. He hated it, but she was making a good argument.

"I think we should go back," she suddenly said.

Dipper stilled. "…What?"

"I think we should go see if they need help. They could be trapped or scared or anything. We can't just leave them there without knowing." She was now looking at him, face completely serious. Dipper could feel himself losing the argument.

"Mabel, this is stupid. This is dangerous. It could just be a creepy person out there!" It probably was just a creeper.

"We'll bring a baseball bat. . . and Stan's gun," she added the last bit with a grin.

"Mabel," he whined.

"We can go out tomorrow and stay for a few nights. There aren't many tourists during the weekdays anyways." She stood from the chair and walked toward the door.

"You just don't want to work," he complained, taking the seat she vacated.

"Yep."

"I still don't think this is a good idea."

"But I do," she returned, hands on her waist. Dipper groaned from the chair and she rolled her eyes. "Where's your sense of adventure? Usually you would be all on going out there and finding a new creature."

He gave her a weak glare. "It ran away when I found pictures of myself on my camera that were taken when I was asleep and supposedly alone and let's not forget, not taken by me." That still unnerved him, but talking with Mabel had taken the edge of it all off. And dammit if he wasn't a bit curious about what was out there, but he wasn't about to tell Mabel he was interested.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked down on him. "Spoilsport. I'll go on my own if I have to," she threatened. "Maybe I'll meet some handsome creature that is scared and alone and just wanted to make friends and I'll tell them how horrible you are and they will never meet you and be my friend only."

Dipper chuckled. "No, don't. I'll go." It's not like he'd let her go on her own anyways.

She grinned back, knowing she got her way yet again. "Good, now let's go wash your things for tomorrow."

Instead of going to sleep like a normal person, Dipper was leafing through the journals and other books on his shelfs and even a few websites to give him some idea on what could be up there. He wasn't exactly surprised that there was no significant historical evidence of area in Gravity Fall's history, but part of him still hoped there would be a hint or maybe some research to give him a lead. There wasn't.

On his computer screen there was several tabs open with different rune circles. He felt stupid for not taking a picture of the runes, but he could do that later. He still remembered vaguely the symbols.

There was another window opened full of different type of supernatural creatures. Any indigenous supernatural creatures and any that he found in the journal that might be what's up there.

Grunkle Ford's journals didn't have anything yet about the circle, but he was only halfway through the second one and still had the first and third to search through. He continued to switch back and forth to his computer and the journals. There were a few circles that look familiar, but most of the circles he saw were used for protection and other good things that were just giving support to Mabel's belief.

Throughout the night, Dipper made it through the first and second journal, most of the creatures and circles on his list (pretty much all of which were marked out) and felt as if he had gotten nowhere. Nothing fit right with his experience and most of the creatures were types he's seen around the forest.

"Why. Can't. I. Figure. This. Out?" He enunciated each word while banging his head on his desk.

He flicked through the pages of the last journal, yawning as he debated just going to bed instead. About halfway through the journal he thumbed past a familiar stone sketch. Cursing, he quickly flipped back to the page to see the Ford has actually came across the circle as well. There was even a few pages worth of notes.

Reading through the notes, he could see where Grunkle Ford mentions the lack of supernatural around and other creatures and even the allude of calm that emanate from the area. There were a few other things that Dipper hadn't noticed, like the temperature difference between the tree line and clearing.

Thankfully, Ford put some sketches of a few of the runes down. There were a few lines scratched out of what he suspected the stone to be and what the rune meant, but were a lot of crystal types and a possible pattern with the runes. Ford didn't know what they fully looked like since he was hesitant to mess with the circle without knowing enough. There was a note to return and conduct further research, but from the looks of it, Ford didn't ever get around to it. Some of the rune meanings did catch his eye, though. Power, control, protection, reformation, and a few others, but nothing screamed dangerous. Maybe it was just a protection circle like he thought. Maybe it's to protect a creature in it, a creature he couldn't see, but it wasn't like that hasn't happened before. Somewhere. It's all plausible.

Closing the journal, Dipper dragged himself to his bed and fell onto the cushions.

"The bags are even heavier this time!" Mabel whined loudly.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "That's because there are two people camping this time."

"Why are we doing this again?"

"Because some idiot thought it was a good idea and closed the shop just so they could," he retorted. His voice dripped with sarcasm.

"God, that asshole," she huffed up the hill. "Why do you let me do these things?"

"Because there's no reasoning with you."

Mabel was silent for a moment before nodding. "True."

They had left later in the afternoon this time since Mabel wanted to make sure everything would be fine while they were gone. They had Soos keeping an eye on the place while they were gone.

They got to the clearing easily enough, but this time it wasn't as calming as before. Dipper chalked that up to his nerves, though. He was wary, but kind of excited all the same. "I still don't know why we need two tents," he commented as he dropped his bag in the same spot as before.

"That's because," Mabel heaved her bag over next to him with a huff, "of the creature, thing, person. What if they are afraid of me? I am intimidating, you know. Maybe they won't approach you again if we're in the same tent."

"What if they go to you instead?" he asked, pulling out his tent.

"Then I have a camera set out for them," she said easily. "But I do hope they capture my good side."

Dipper paused to look at her. "And what side is that?"

"All of them."

He laughed, setting out the body of the tent before sliding in the skeleton of it. "You've been hanging out with Pacifica too much."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Dipper looked over to see her doing the same.

"There's a reason for that," he muttered, ducking when she throws part of her tent at him.

Dipper had his tent up before Mabel finished hers, emptying the rest of his bag and setting up what needed to be done. Since they were going to be in the campsite for most of the time anyways, he didn't have to worry about half the things he did before. There was always going to be someone here in case, well, whatever lives here is _here_. As Mabel put it, constant vigilance.

Once Mabel's things were put up, they got to work on examining the circle. Dipper made sure to get pictures of the surrounding area before taking a few of each embedded rock, while Mabel mapped out the area with the distance between each stone, their symbol, and color of quartz.

"What do you make of all this?" Mabel asked, breaking the silence that overshadowed them.

"I don't know," Dipper grunted as he stretched. The sun was about to set and they still hadn't made a fire. Setting his camera down, he started building a fire from what was left from his weekend, making note to go out tomorrow and get more wood.

Mabel hummed. "I thought you'd have some idea. You were up all night researching."

Dipper winced at the accusing tone she used on him. "I wasn't up _all_ night," he mumbled.

She snorted. "So, what did you find out?" she asked as she put her things away and started pulling out food for dinner.

"Pretty much nothing," he sighed. "Anything I thought of or found didn't fit and Grunkle Ford had barely anything on the place." The fire slowly came to life as he debated telling her that most of the evidence supported her. As much as he didn't want to, she had a big enough head as it was, it was probably best to tell her. "But…you may be right that this might not be bad…"

He didn't have to look up to know she fisted the air in victory.

"BUT there is still a chance-"

"Just admit that you might be wrong," Mabel interrupted him, taking a seat next to him.

Dipper grunted, opting to ignore her.

Their dinner consisted of hotdogs and roasted marshmallows. Dipper was so tired of hotdogs. He watched in disgust as Mabel bit into a marshmallow covered hotdog.

"They are really precise," Mabel commented, a bit muffled with food in her mouth. "The stones, I mean. At first I noticed that they were evenly distanced from each other. They made a perfect circle. I also noticed that there was a certain pattern with the colors of the quartz and their marks. Whoever did this really put the time into it to make it perfect."

"Still positive it's a good thing?" he asked, biting into his hotdog.

She nodded. "Of course. What else could it be?"

"For all we know this circle is used to keep a portal to a nightmarish dimension closed and keep us all safe from their chaotic power," he responded with the first thing he could think of. He grimaced at how far fetch it sounded.

"Mmhm," she nodded as she hummed at him. "Could be…but it's not."

"I bet you twenty that I'm right," he said easily, smiling at her playfully. "This circle isn't as good as you think it is."

She laughed. "You're going to bet that all of this is just something horrible cause you're some kind of downer and even if you are right, I'm still partially right because the circle would still be considered a good thing because it is used as protection."

Dipper nodded. "I'd still be more right than you are, so yeah. I'm betting it."

Mabel snorted. "I'll add on a week of dish duty along with parking lot clean up that I'm right and there is nothing bad with this circle and you're just being a downer that's just looking for everything bad." She poked him in the side as she spoke.

He already did those jobs anyways, so it wouldn't be much of a loss. Plus, he'd make Mabel buy them pizza with her winnings. "Deal," he said holding out her hand.

She grasped his, smiling. "I'm so going to win."

Hopefully. It was one bet he wouldn't mind losing.

"Well, I'm hitting the hay," Mabel announced as she stood up, brushing off her clothes. "And so should you."

"But it's so early," Dipper complained as he stifled a yawn.

Mabel rolled her eyes and crawled into her tent, only to return with a camera and its stand. "Early bird gets the worm, or in this case, the creature that has a little crush on my baby bro."

Dipper groaned. "Shut up," he grumbled, moving over to her to see what she was doing. Night vision showed up on the screen, giving the perfect angle to the door of his tent. "Seriously?"

"Yep!" She smiled at him. "I have enough battery life on that thing to record through the night. Took it out of the room Grunkle Stan kept the safe. Works and will record any visitors. And just in case it is a creep, we'll have physical proof of them."

Shaking his head, Dipper sighed and went to his tent.

"It's a great idea!" Mabel called out at him.

"Yeah." Then why doesn't it help calm him? "If I end up dead, I'm haunting you."

Mabel snorted.

His tent felt unbearably hot. His shirt was plastered to his skin when he woke up. The sleeping bag wrapped tightly around his legs, constricting him. Groaning, Dipper fought off the sleeping bag, valiantly freeing himself. As he sat up, he took in how oddly bright his tent was. Morning? Had he woke up before Mabel? Tiredly, he opened the flap to his tent to the night sky and the fire blazing before him.

"Shit," Dipper grumbled, crawling out of his tent. Mabel forgot to put out the fire, though he wasn't much better in remembering either. Trying not to trip over his own feet, he walked around the fire to grab the bucket of dirt to snuff it out. Just as he was about to pour it over the flames, a figure caught his eye.

At the edge of the tree line someone was hunched over and looked to be…digging? Dipper squinted. They were digging. It took him a moment to realize they were digging around where the stone ring would be. _Was this the creature that took pictures of him_? he thought as he gently set the bucket down. As silently as he could, he moved past the fire and toward the figure. They looked human, as far as Dipper could tell.

Whelp, he was right. It was a creeper. Straightening, he got ready to yell at the person, but all words died in his throat as the silhouette's head snapped up and bright illuminated eyes stared back, making him gasp. Taking a step back, Dipper took in the new details that were decidedly not human. The eyes were golden in their illumination with a thick slit through them. And he doesn't know how he missed it, but a pair of antlers-no, horns protruded out of the silhouette. Along with what he could only assume as pointed ears. Elf maybe? Even a fae was possible and more probable. He never seen one of their kind before.

They started to move again, slowly straightening to a towering height and Dipper was only a couple of yards away. They had to be at least seven feet tall. Their form was slender, but a very lean masculine form. Dipper could even make out muscle forms from where he stood. As they turned away, Dipper's eyes dropped to a whip like tail swaying behind them. The tail swung down, lifting something up and placing it into the creature's hand before they began to walk away.

"Hey, wait," he called out to them as they started to cross the tree line. He was surprised when they stopped and looked back at him. Those glowing eyes stared back, sending Dipper's heart racing. "W-who are you? Are you the one taking pictures of me?"

They didn't answer. Dipper didn't even know if he expected them to or not. What he didn't expect was for them to look away and sprint into the woods. Without even thinking, Dipper darted after them, barefoot. He paid no mind to the sticks and rocks that dug into his feet. It took everything in him to keep up with the swift figure. It was hard to even see them in the quickly darkening forest. He actually wasn't even sure he could see them anymore.

Slowing to a stop, he looked around for any sign of, well, anything but trees. The light that was given from the sky wasn't enough to follow someone in. _This was a horrible idea_ , he couldn't help but think. He just ran out alone into the woods, chasing after a possibly dangerous creature, without anything to defend himself, and he's probably lost. There were too many twists and turns for him to keep up with and now… "Fuck," he cursed, kicking at the leaves under his feet. As so frankly as he put it, he was fucked. He'd be lucky to get back to the campsite before Mabel woke up.

Groaning, he turned around on the heel of his foot as he decided that this direction wood be as good as any. Except that he ran straight dab into a tree. Cursing, Dipper steady himself against the warm tree.

Warm.

Tree?

Flexing his hands, he didn't feel bark, that's for sure. Unless trees felt like smooth skin. Looking down at the coppery toned skin, he can attest that trees don't look like that. Neither do trees wear clothes, if he could call those tattered pieces of fabric that hung loosely on the hips of a very male torso. That he was still touching.

That thought alone made him snatch his hands away. "Sorry," he muttered as his face burned.

He was surprised to hear a laugh came from in front of him. His eyes darted up and he gaped. It was the creature. The horns he noticed earlier, were inky black and protruded from his temples, just below golden hair that looked windblown and sinfully soft. "Hi," he whispered as his eyes trailed down that narrow face. The creature began to smile at him. And there were fangs. Four of them.

They opened their mouth and started to speak.

Make that six fangs.

"Huh?" Dipper asked, too fixated on their mouth.

They smiled again and slowly said, "Dip-per."

At his name, Dipper jolted back from them, looking at the man warily. "Do I know you?" he asked. The creature's voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where. It wasn't like he could forget meeting someone like this. His eyes trailed over their body, taking in a few more details like the clawed hands and feet and how pitch black covered their arms-and from the looks of it their feet as well-before slowly fading away like the color was painted on.

Dipper was pretty sure he's never met the guy.

Those clawed hands reached out slowly, as if knowing that Dipper was seconds away from running, no matter how enticing the creature actually was. He was surprised with the gentleness they had as they cupped Dipper's face and tilted his head back. " _Dipper_ ," they purred gravelly.

Dipper whimpered as a shiver racked through him and straight to his groin. He didn't even protest as the creature leaned down and lazily pulled him into a kiss, nipping at his lip just so he could feel the slight sting of those fangs. With a gasp, Dipper pressed into the kiss, not even caring how strange this all was. He just chased this guy through the woods and now they were kissing. He placed his hands on the creature's sides, stepping closer until he was pressed up against them.

Should he be worried about this, though?

As one hand cradled the back of his head, the other slipped down and hoisted Dipper up and he instantly wrapped his legs around them, hooking his arms around their neck.

No. He shouldn't be worried about this. This was completely fine.

The hair was just as soft as he perceived. Or softer. He couldn't quite tell. He was preoccupied with his back being pressed up against actual tree bark and a hard not-tree-part grinding down on him. He arched into them, moving his hips against theirs as he groaned at the contact. He pulled at their hair, breathing harshly as they dragged their mouth down the side of Dipper's neck. He could just-

 _"Dipper!"_

Mabel?

The creature stilled in Dipper's arms.

 _"Wake up!"_

"Wha…" He looked at the creature to see them looking back with a sad smile. He only blinked and he was looking at the roof of his tent.

"Hurry up and wake up! I'm tired of hearing you moan, you sick pervert." The silhouette of his sister passed his tent.

Dipper groaned loudly as he rolled up in his sleeping bag, desperate to fall back asleep. He wasn't finished. Not even close. There was so much more to explore of those weird subconscious creation that was undoubtedly hot beyond all reasoning.

"Come on, you silly sleepy head! We got work to do!" she continued to yell. There was no off button. He's checked for years.

Throwing back the covers he sat up, glaring at his tent. "I hate you."

"Must have been one hell of a sex dream if you're glaring at me like that, Dipper," Mabel teased from the other side of the fire as she ate her breakfast.

He gave her an obscene gesture that starred his middle finger as the leading role.

She snorted. "That good?"

It was. And it would have been even better if he got to finish it. He could still feel their hands and could remember every detail of them.

"So, I already checked my camera and the one out here. There was nothing, well, I'm pretty sure there's nothing at least. I had it on fast-forward, but I didn't blink so," she rambled, munching through her cereal bar. "What about you?"

"Haven't checked yet." He wasn't even thinking about it.

She made grabby hands at him. He rolled his eyes and tossed her his camera. She instantly went searching through the pictures. "Huh."

Dipper looked up. Her face had paled. "What?"

"There's only one…"

She held out the camera, showing him outside by the fire. "Mabel," he breathed, trying to keep the whine out of his voice.

The picture was taken before they even went to bed last night, with the flaps of his tent at the edges of the photograph.


End file.
